The southern district attorney’s office filed an indictment in the Beersheba
District Court over Passover, charging a Palestinian man with the murder of an
Ashkelon resident, the Justice Ministry announced on Sunday.

According to
the indictment, 21-year-old Nur Aladin Hamisa, a Palestinian Authority resident,
became acquainted with his victim, known only as R., sometime in March and began
to live in R.’s Ashkelon apartment.

In the early hours of March 19, when
Hamisa and R. were both in the apartment, Hamisa allegedly began to beat
R.

At some point during the incident, the indictment charges, Hamisa
decided to kill R. He took a knife from R.’s apartment and tried to murder R. by
attempting to stab him several times. However, R. allegedly managed to
fight back and avoid Hamisa’s attempts to stab him.

R. continued to fight
Hamisa on the balcony of his apartment, the indictment said, but Hamisa managed
to drop him to the floor where he started to strangle him.

R. tried to
escape, but Hamisa allegedly stabbed him in the neck, causing a seven-centimeter
deep wound. As R. lay dying on his balcony floor, blood gushing from his neck,
Hamisa went back inside and washed his hands, the indictment
said.

Allegedly, Hamisa then took off his shirt, hid it under a bed in
the apartment, and put on a red shirt belonging to R. to disguise
himself.

He then stole two cellphones, cellphone chargers and a set of
house and car keys, locked the apartment door and fled, the indictment
said.

An ambulance crew was later called to R.’s home but pronounced him
dead at the scene.

As well as the stab wound on his neck, a postmortem
showed that R. had several cuts to his hands and wrists, the indictment
said.

Hamisa is also charged with illegal residency in Israel, theft and
attempting to pervert the course of justice.